Upon drafting the Comprehensive Plan, it is realized that, as conditions within the city and parish evolve, it will be necessary to amend the plan to accommodate these new changes. Amendments to the Comprehensive Plan will follow a specific process that will ensure that the proposed changes are reviewed by both City-Parish Government officials and citizens.
Planning Division Staff will prepare plan admendments, which will be submitted to the CPIC. The CPIC will review the proposed plan amendments and, if necessary, will make further recommendations. The amendments then will be forwarded to the Planning Commission for review and further revision, if necessary. The Planning Commission will review the proposed amendments and hold a public hearing to allow the public to review and comment on the proposed amendments. Upon reviewing the public comments and making any changes, the Planning Commission will forward the amendment to the City-Parish Council, which will also conduct a public hearing to gather comments from the public. The City-Parish Council will consider public input and will make final revisions, if necessary. The finalized amendments, once adopted by the City-Parish
Council, then will be drafted as amendments to the Comprehensive Plan (A more detailed process follows).
Major amendments, such as those associated with the five-year update, will be presented to the public for review and comment during the public meeting process for each of the five planning districts in the city and parish. After each meeting, public comments will be forwarded to the CPIC for review.
The Plan Amendment Process will allow for a thoughtful and careful review of proposed changes by both citizens and City-Parish Government officials. This will ensure that the Comprehensive Plan will retain its flexibility and remain an effective tool for implementing the vision set forth by the City-Parish Government and its citizens.
Two different types of reviews are needed: annual technical updates and major five-year plan updates. The purpose of the annual review is to consider relatively minor revisions on a regular basis, such as land-use, changes and to ensure the plan is consistent with ordinances. The purpose for conducting major five-year updates includes the fact that future population growth and land development might make it necessary to update the data on which the Plan is based. Also, community values and conditions might change to the extent that many of the goals, objectives and policies in the plan need to be reformulated. However, the fundamental purpose of the review process is to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan during the period covered by the update. An assessment is needed to determine the adequacy of the plan and to determine
how it can be more successful in achieving its objectives. Based upon this assessment, recommendations can be made for improving the overall quality and effectiveness of the plan.
Revisions proposed by the annual technical updates and five-year updates will become Plan Amendments to be considered for adoption by the City-Parish Council. The Amendment Process outlines the process for adopting these Plan Amendments. This process applies to both annual and five-year revisions.
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